Light in the Darkness
by Uncle Steve
Summary: Daniel is approached to lead an organisation of Sorcerers. (Wrote this more to throw ideas out there than be descriptive - R&R, please.)
1. A Bad day at the Office

This is a series of chapters on an organisation of Sorcerers. It was an early effort, but introduced some characters I've gone on to use a lot more. To call these "Dialogue driven" is an understatement, but they're just for fun really. Must stop writing as though it's for a screenplay... 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

_1400 hours._

I let the stuffy looking butler guy open the door to what looked like yet another "Drawing Room". He gestured for me to go on in. 

The first person I saw was Jack, which was a good start. He'd brought me here with an offer of a job, and I hadn't seen him until now. My hopes for a good afternoon were dashed pretty quickly after I saw who else was there. 

I don't know how Jack found out about my previous employment. I'd been out of all that for two years now and I thought I'd covered my tracks. Looking at the faces in this room, I knew several things in quick order - firstly, he knew. Second, the job he was offering was a Job. And lastly, everyone in here was a Sorcerer like myself, and he wanted me to be on the team. 

"Daniel!" The asshole stood up with a smile and pretended to be delighted to see me. 

I set my jaw and stared him down. "I'm retired, Jack." His grin slipped for a second. 

"Now, Danny, don't go making your mind up yet..." 

I had been right. There was no other reason for a group of people who looked so different to be gathered like this - they were Exotics. There was a bookworm in an armchair, an Indian in a turban and brightly coloured - hell, were they _silks?_- and your typical occult freak by the fireplace. Four of five more around the room all looked bizarre in their own ways, but I could tell that they were going to be hard work. Of the eight people, at least six looked as though they still thought they were invincible and (more worryingly) somehow important. They were amateurs, each desperately trying to look cool and aloof. Jack probably needed me to keep them alive. Well, he had three seconds before I walked out and didn't look back. 

"I know you left the business, Danny, but I've got some information that I think you'd be mad to pass up." 

Three. 

"We have a problem." 

"That just makes it a normal weekday. Why the emergency?" 

Two. 

"Because we don't have a _small_ problem. It looks like Vampires, and it's heading for the centre of town." 

"You've gotta be kidding." 

He was shaking his head, and that wasn't good - that wasn't good at all because Jack may be a Corporate American Asshole, but he gets his facts right. The pit of my stomach took the express elevator to Hades and kept going. 

"But here's been no activity for eight months. The Organisation was monitoring the nest, there was no chance..." 

He shook his head again, a quick sharp motion to stop any further disagreement. "We're sure." 

Damn. 

I knew that they had me now, it didn't matter that the team were hopeless or that my security had been blown. After two years I was back in the game. 

----------- 

_1430 hours._

A short time later, Jack was next to me as we walked through the extensive grounds of the estate. I had to admit it was beautiful, and the English countryside was glorious. It was helping my mood, though. 

"You're just surprised, Danny. You have to give yourself a little time to get used to the idea." 

"I'm not surprised, you moron - I'm angry. In fact, faced with a group as ignorant, undisciplined and eager as that lot, I'm actually _scared._ Who the hell was the twitchy guy in the corner? He looked ready to jump up and scream a war-cry at anything that looked vaguely evil." 

He grinned. "That's Raymond. You'll like him." 

"No I won't, because I'm going home. I told you, Jack, I'm retired. I don't do this anymore." 

"Now, Danny..." 

It was no good. I knew it and so did he. 

"Alright, alright. Give me until tomorrow morning to get my stuff and I'll start working with the group." 

- 

_18 hours later._

By the next morning, however, things had already changed. Jack stood in front of a whiteboard in the mansion, with me and the group in chairs around the room. 

"Alright, let's get started. There's been a development during the night. We had two subjects under surveillance. This new target approached the area and fought with them, hand to hand. It killed them both." 

"Who were the subjects?" 

"E and J. Their details are in the literature you were given yesterday." A loud shuffling of pages followed as everyone found the profiles. 

"But it says here that E and J were Vampires..." I glanced up at him expectantly. 

"Yes." He held my look without turning away. Oh hell. "There's more. After feeding from them in a manner similar to other Vampires, he changed his methods. We lost him, and just before dawn we got a report of a subject matching his description attacking humans in the city. He's not drinking anymore - he's _eating_ the victims." A low muttering from the room as this sinks in. "It gets better." 

"The last confirmed sighting shows that he has horns now. The subject has gone from a worryingly indiscreet vampire to a blatant and out of control monster. We're going to have to take steps." 

"Take steps?" I didn't like the way this was going. "We're a brand new team, Jack! We can't go in against something like this!" 

"We don't have a lot of choice. He's approaching the main areas of the city. He's stopped feeding on vampires and started on random passers-by. We need to stop him now." 

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. I couldn't believe I was about to suggest this. "Do we have anyone suited to stand up to him? Because I may know a man..." 

Jack's eyebrow raised a millimeter, which is quite a lot for Jack. 

Here we go. "Well, yes. He's tall, wears a longcoat in June and doesn't play well with others. And not a man, exactly, no." 

"I'll need details, Danny. Can we trust him?" 

I nodded. "He saved the life of the only woman that I ever really cared about... who wasn't computer generated or a fictional FBI agent." I paused. "He's got several skills we're going to need." 

"If you want to bring someone in, that's your call, Danny. You're running this show, after all." 

Yeah. Right. 

----------- 

_The next day._

People think that surveillance is exciting. As I've said many times in the past, it's not. It's DULL. Unless you get spotted, in which case it's noisy, fast and often painful. After six hours in the dark outside an abandoned warehouse (how many of these things ARE there in this city?) I'd stopped caring whether the subject was actually going to show up. Marcus's witty commentary didn't help, either. 

"You remember the time in Geneva when we thought we'd found a Vampire nest? Man, that was funny." 

I spluttered. "We shot two drug dealers thinking they were beasts of the night, and you took a round in the arm! How can you even SAY that?" 

"Because I'm too tone-deaf to sing it! It's been too long, dammit. We should have kept going." 

"In case I need to remind you, there was no-one left. And the team I've got now are definitely more of a danger to each other than whatever this thing is." 

The warehouse side door opened quickly, and our target stepped out. It was him - six foot, asian, long black hair and... oh. Horns. Um. 

"Right", said Marcus into his earpiece, "let's..." There was a crackle as another member of the team cut him off. "Er... dudes? I don't think we need to worry..." It was Ray, whose talents meant he was on duty detecting possible intruders into the area. 

"Why not?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the target. "Is someone else on their way in?" 

*crackle* "You could say that..." 

Patches of shadow around the perimeter of the warehouse started to move. Within seconds, the target was surrounded by dark figures. They were fast, silent, and some had red eyes. We sat in the car, barely breathing. (In Marcus's case, this wasn't strictly necessary anyway). 

It was over in seconds. The target sprouted several large bony bits and waded into the new arrivals at speed. And they just as quickly ripped him into small pieces and left silently. Within about 10 seconds all that was left were the bloodstains. I didn't see where the newcomers went, but then I hadn't known they were there the entire time either. 

Marcus sighed, and reached around to the back seat to pack away the largest automatic weapon I had ever seen. Well, today we got lucky, I guess. We all live to fight again, and maybe even get trained up enough to stand a chance. 

-------- 

Two weeks later, we were up and running. We had our own place, training procedures and over thirty agents. 

_Internal Incident Report: June 19th._

Sorcerers are very adaptable when they're in a team. Synergy, Telepathy, Psychometry, Divination... even Oneiromancy can be used to produce a wide range of subtle effects. 

And sometimes, not so subtle. 

I woke to the sound of Alarms. It was the constant wail of the emergency alarm, not the short pips that signaled fire or accident. I was out of bed and into the corridor in seconds. 

"What's going on?" 

David ran past me, pulling on a jacket. "We've got a Warding breach in B wing." 

"Oh hell." 

I followed him to the main room at the end of the corridor. Most of A wing was already there. "What's the nature of the target?" 

"We don't know." Harry was working the computer frantically. 

"Well? Get Simmons on it!" 

"We did. Now he's crouched in a corner, screaming." 

"It's something bigger than c-class, then." 

He nodded. That meant it was a supernatural entity, not a spirit. 

"Who's not here?" 

He didn't need to ask why I wanted to know. We weren't due for anything which would require that type of Wards, so it was likely that someone has been Summoning on their own time. Harry looked at me hesitantly, which told me all I needed. "Carter. Damn." 

"Shall we try and get the Wards back up?" 

I shook my head. "No, by the time we could it'll probably have eaten us. We'll have to rely on Psychics and any Ritual effects already in place." 

This wasn't good. With preparation we could have had it locked down, Mastered, and with someone ready to shove a thunderbolt up it's backside at the first sign of trouble. Instead we had no time at all, and a group who's most offensive mental capabilities included the spontaneous generation of soft non-toxic slime. Given Carter's area of expertise, the target probably had quite enough slime of it's own. 

The last time we had a demon turn up (officially, anyway) the Sorcerer involved had been aiming for an Angel, and missed. This happens. It happens quite a lot unofficially, because Demons give you things and Sorcerers are only human. Carter had _started out_ trying for demons and the nastier Spirits, and was good at it. Until now, presumably. 

The one good thing about Demons is that once you've Summoned them, things get physical. Which meant guns work, along with grenades and flamethrowers. Always handy, that. 

"Sir? What do we do?" 

I thought for a moment. The sirens were still wailing, and we had movement in the secure rooms of B wing. "Get Lassiter's team together. I've got someone else I can call. A... professional." 

-- 

_Seven minutes later._

We're not the Military. We try to run our Institution in an organized way, but the truth is that people in our profession are far too erratic to keep things smooth. Most of us feel more comfortable with books than guns. I was the exception. I entered the code in the armory and accessed the special weapons cache. Peter followed me in, and his jaw nearly dragged his face onto the floor when he saw the size of the gun I was trying to lift out of the cabinet. 

"Whoa! WHOA! What the hell are you going to do with THAT?!" 

"I believe the phrase is 'Bug Hunt'..." 

It wouldn't be enough, though. We had our experts on most creatures we dealt with, but Carter was the only one on Demons... and no-one had heard from him after he sounded the alarm. B wing was locked down, but that wouldn't stop a Being like that for long, even if he was corporeal.   
That's why I have a phone number in my Safe, and a private line. The man was inside the Estate and reporting to me within five minutes. 

He looked like a Shaolin Monk. Except he was English, of course. Still, something about him made you think of a Buddhist... with an Axe. Bizarre. 

It was around that time that the shields went up. Big, black and green smelly energy shields appeared out of nowhere, encasing B Block. A quick check told us that we weren't getting through. The Professional didn't seem phased, though. 

"This is not a problem. He is powerful, and not stupid, but I can break this." 

Harry was silent and couldn't take his eyes off the man. I think he would have hidden behind me and peered out if he could. I just nodded and concentrated on getting the others ready. 

"Okay. Eight go in - myself, this man and Alpha Team. Normal spread, normal clearance. Everyone ready?" Weapons were checked, and eventually everyone nodded confirmation. "Right." I turned to the Monk (whose name I didn't know and didn't expect to be told). "Now?" 

He stood confidently in front of the barrier, and started to breathe slowly. Waving his hands around for a bit, he suddenly pointed both at the greasy but impenetrable wall and shouted loudly. It dissolved, and he stood back smugly. "This demon will not be a problem." He walked through the door to the room and into the corridor to B wing. I followed, adjusting the back-strap on my gun. Behind me, Carol - one of our more powerful psychics, but also trained with weapons. 

Next in line, Tom checked his ammo one last time. He walked to the door - and bumped his nose on the reformed barrier. 

"Er..." 

-- 

_Red Zone, B wing._

It took about ten seconds to realize we'd underestimated the Demon. At roughly the same time that Carol realized no-one was following her, The Professional was half a corridor-length ahead of me - being introduced to his own intestines. I saw the Demon (green, black, on all fours, no visible face, not humanoid) just beyond the spray of pink mist, and fired. The gun didn't have special rounds, because it didn't need them. The wall beyond the creature vanished in a cloud of plaster, and part of the ceiling fell in. It didn't seem very hurt, and ran around the corner and towards the secure rooms. 

I followed. This may seem like a stupid thing to do at this point, but thanks to not being a regular human being I knew exactly where it was now that I was close to it. I thought there'd be no problem as long as it didn't turn around and attack. 

More barriers went up as a entered one of the small rooms that lead to the next corridor. I, of course, had no way to get through them. (The thought of firing at them did occur to me, but the problem with only using Really Big Guns was that you needed more room than I currently had.) I decided to sit tight and try to keep up with things from here. 

-- 

_Carol._

Carol brought her shotgun to bear on the last door. It had to be in there. She just hoped the ammo would actually do anything - it always had before, but there wasn't a lot of data for this and every beastie is different. The blast picked her off her feet and flung her against the wall. It hadn't come from the door in front of her, but from the side... and she wasn't falling down the wall. She was being held there. The gun was on the floor a good ten feet away. 

It came closer, slowly. Carol tried moving her arms, but they were pinned by an invisible force. He feet dangled a metre off the ground. The smell hit her first, and then the cold. It was around this thing like a mist - oily, poisonous miasma of death. She wondered briefly if this was really what Carter had _meant_ to call up... The creature approached, slowly. It started to bubble, and grow. In three seconds it had filled most of the rest of the corridor. 

_Okay girl... think. The gun's gone, which means you're down to hands (no good) and Paths._

Animal Telepathy? (Nope.) Synergy (useless here...), Shadowcrafting (too slow-)... 

...Stupid. Had it really been that long since she'd used the other one? 

"My, aren't we Colossal." Just enough room. 

**_"BURN."_**

-- 

_Internal Incident Report - Conclusion. _

The property damage and magickal rebuilding are covered in the normal way. Carol Lindstrom is recovering from slight injuries. With the Demon destroyed, the Barriers fell - I was released and the area was secured in a satisfactory fashion. 

I want to put on file that I am unhappy with the number of times I have to fill out one of these reports, Control. It's okay if external supernaturals cause a situation, but should we really have to worry this much about _our own guys?_

Sheesh. 

_Report ends, June 19th_


	2. Friends Like These

London is not a safe place for small girls to be alone in. As a result, one particular girl was being threatened at least once a day. Now, London was becoming less safe for _anyone_ to be in... 

"Sir, we're getting a report of an attack in the city." 

"Any casualties?" 

"Two. Gang members." 

"What killed them? I presume it wouldn't have come across our desk if it wasn't exotic..." 

"According to this, Spiderman killed them." 

There was a pause as the guard's brain tried to put that last reply together in a way that didn't make him want to cry.   
"Okay, accepting for a minute that it was Spiderman, how did he kill them? Doesn't he usually tie people up, or just punch them?" 

"This one disemboweled the first one with a sharp blade and put his hand through the second victim's head. The hard way." 

Another pause. 

"This isn't good." 

"No, it isn't." 

"You'd better call Reynolds." 

--- 

Sarah hadn't spent much time in the real world recently. She'd retreated into some surreal "Alice through the looking glass" place. At eleven years old she shouldn't have to deal with the things that the World was throwing at her, and her brain agreed. So did the Guardians. They'd heard her screaming and picturing comic-book heroes coming to help, and decided to oblige. Now her mind was doing it's best to block them out too, because they frightened her more than the attacks. Another man approached her as she'd nearly got out of the alley, and pushed her back into it. He was saying something about playing a game, but she could tell he wanted to hurt her. She kept repeating "No" over and over, but he was still advancing. 

Something black and sickly and wrong dragged itself up from the shadows behind the man. 

_"The lady said no, Bub."_

Snikkt. 

--- 

Control had set B-team onto the Steadman case. B-team were good, but most importantly their wet-work man was very good, and the order had just come through to terminate the girl as a possible Marauder. Most people miss with the majority of their shots at anything over 20 metres. Johnson didn't miss if you turned the lights out and lied about where you'd put the target. 

--- 

Sarah decided that Mark was cool. He and his three friends lived in this big warehouse place with no carpet. And they gave her a coca-cola and promised to show her something exciting. They hadn't tried to touch her and they didn't seem too threatening. She sat down at the edge of a big circle and watched Mark wave his hands at the altar and candles in the middle of the room. 

--- 

"Sir, update from B-team: they've lost her. Hopkins had a strong trace on her and then she just dropped off the map. He suspects she went somewhere with heavy-duty Wards." 

Deakins looked up at the console. A small yellow light was flashing rapidly. He reached for the handset and spoke to Control. "This is Deakins in A-wing. We've got a Summoning going down in Town." There was a pause as the voice on the other end spoke in calm tones. "No, not in B-wing, in _London._ Not far from the last place we saw the girl." 

--- 

"We Summon Thee, O Anakiem, Spirit of Justice. We have an enemy who deserves Judgment." 

The light within the circle flickered, and slowly grew from soft yellow to a purer white. 

Sarah sat at the back of the room, and didn't pay much attention. Her head felt funny. It passed in a few minutes, and when she looked back there was a really tall man standing with Mark and his friends. They were arguing. 

"Whadd'ya mean you can't do it?!" 

"Well," said the man, "the thing about Justice is, it's a bit final. You can Judge a person up to that point in time, and say whether they've been more bad than good, but it doesn't give them a chance to atone for it later." The man seemed quite calm but regretful. 

"But this guy's a real scumbag..." Mark protested. 

"So he doesn't deserve the opportunity to change? You lot don't look so squeaky clean from where _I'm_ hovering, boys." 

Mark didn't look happy at that comment. 

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in you. I would like to know why you chose to call _me_ - I suppose you got my name from a book?" 

"Yeah." 

The man nodded knowingly. "Old book, was it?" 

Mark narrowed his eyes, but acted cocky. "Yeah. So?" 

The man just nodded again, to himself. "I'm not a Justice spirit anymore. Haven't been for three hundred years. I changed to being a spirit of Forgiveness." 

One of the other boys sighed disgustedly and turned to complain to Mark. "What the hell are we supposed to do now? He's useless!" 

"Of course I'm not." 

"We want to cause this guy a whole lot of hurt. You're going to go up to him and say "Well, don't do it again!" " 

The tall figure in the middle grew serious. "There's something I don't think you realize. I don't just forgive." 

A pause while everyone digested this. 

Mark tried to wait it out, but his impatience won. "So, what else can you do?" 

The spirit looked directly at him and it's voice turned cold. 

"_Not_ forgive." 

Mark was definitely not happy now. He started to bluster something but the spirit, who didn't look quite as accommodating as it had earlier, cut him off. 

"And guys? Your Summoning is mediocre, but you can't Ward for shit." 

The boy started to jump back but was nowhere near as fast as the Spirit. It instantly appeared inches from his face, it's eyes too large and too bright, with a terrifying grin on the suddenly monstrous face. It clamped a hand on top of Mark's head. 

**"You are _NOT_ forgiven."**

Mark started to scream. It didn't look like he was going to stop anytime soon. 

Sarah screamed too, and felt the hot place in the back of her head start to itch. The shadows coiled in a far corner of the room, and something emerged to save her. 

It looked like a decayed rhinoceros that had been turned inside out and was dripping blood and dark oily slime. Only not as cuddly. 

--- 

"Sir, report from B-team: Johnson defected." 

"What?!" 

"He's going after the Steadman girl, and doesn't intend to carry out the hit." 

"WHAT?!" 

--- 

"Hello Sarah." 

She was sitting on the floor, sobbing. There was no-one else in the warehouse, but it looked to have been recently repainted. A nice red colour. When she looked up at the man, she saw a thin old guy in a suit. Sarah's brain couldn't cope with more detail than that, and she put up no resistance as he pulled her to her feet. 

"You're in danger. Not just from yourself - these things that are appearing to defend you only want your power. They'll decide to take it once you're weak enough. It's more than that, though. A group of people have found out what's happening and they want you dead. I used to work for them, but I'm going to take you somewhere safe instead. We have to be quick - they know where you are now." His sentences were clipped and urgent. 

So Sarah met Mr. Johnson, and he took her to his funny house with all it's codewords and flashing lights. Soon afterwards (with a few exceptions) the Dark things went away, as did her headaches. 

--- 

"What's the decision on Johnson and the girl?" 

"We wait, probably long term. Johnson's trained to disappear completely, and he's got the strongest Mind Shields and Warding that B-Wing has ever seen. He can hide them both for the foreseeable future. The rate at which she's producing means that he'll either bring her under control or they'll both die, so hey - problem solved. We're to keep an eye out in case he messes up, but they're not holding out any hope." 

"So London is once again safe for rapists and murderers who prey on eleven year-old girls to live in. Well, I feel a whole lot better." 

Deakins chuckled. "Hey, relax. I hear they're calling up another slime demon in C-Wing at nine - wanna come watch?" 

But then the small yellow light started flashing again, and they both knew they wouldn't be off-duty this side of midnight. 


	3. Contracts and Obligations (Starring: Chi...

When I got home, there was a strange man in my bathroom. 

This is not a good sign. When they come to your door you can deal with it elegantly, in your own time. If they're already there when you get home, it means they're a step ahead of you in a game you didn't know had started yet. 

Luckily, he'd only come to snoop around and ask questions. Seems that whoever sent him was more worried about my last case than in me, personally. Which was nice, because it meant I was only looking at a Very Large Gun instead of finding out what one sounds like. 

I was going to quit the business. We both were. After the Army, I said I'd stop killing people and find a real job. Then the money got tight, and I found that the only skills I had weren't much good in an office but could bring in a high salary in the private sector. So I didn't quit. 

Two years as a mercenary, and I nearly quit again. Three more as a Hitman... and then I met Anna, and we decided to get out of the profession and try for normality. Except that it was just kinda easier to... keep doing it. Which is why I had a strange man pointing a Desert Eagle at my face. 

The case he wanted to know about was my hit on another assassin, to save a witness who actually believed in the words "Witness protection program" enough to testify. Problem was, I knew the witness and liked him. Luke had been a friend since before the Army, must be over ten years now. It appears that someone out there liked him a lot less than I did, because the hard case was being leaning on me for his address - which luckily I don't have. I do have Luke's telephone number, but somehow I forgot to mention this at the time. The goon left after some more threats and an order that I was to tell his boss if I heard anything about the witness. That last part was a problem: his boss 'Kyle' wasn't a small player, and I was going to have to watch my step in the next few days. 

I have a system in place for warning my friends when there's trouble. It involves a public phone booth, some computers, some more computers, some more phones, and some passwords. I warned Luke that there was contract on him, probably linked to his testifying. I expected that to be the end of my involvement. 

So, imagine my surprise when Luke turns up at my house at three in the morning. 

"That was brave of you." I turned the lights on, put the gun down and closed the door behind him. 

"What, coming here?" 

"No, turning the key to start your car. You do know there's a contract out on you?" 

We walked into the lounge and I opened the drinks cabinet. He looked like he needed some. "You've got Kyle pretty angry, Luke." 

"I know, I know." He had the 'been awake too long' eyes and quick breathing of someone on the run. 

"I take it you want equipment?" 

"I need anything you've got. I'm sorry, Richard, I wasn't expecting this." 

Now, I should probably tell you at this point that when he says "Equipment", that doesn't just cover what you're thinking. If you've got access to these files, you'll know what I mean by the term "Sorcerer", and probably know that I am one. Well, you do now. Anna, despite having talents almost opposite to mine, also falls into the category. If she's still alive. Ain't love great? Anyway... when he said equipment, he meant guns, Kevlar, potions and wards. It was ready in two hours. 

I handed him the amulet as we stood in the hall, and he put in on hurriedly. I looked hard at his face, wondering if he was going to make it. "I'm going to have to tell Kyle you've been here. He'll know anyway, and if he thinks I'm hiding it from him he'll kill me." 

Luke sighed, and nodded. "I understand." 

"No, you don't. We can't meet again. When I go to him, he's going to order me to kill you myself. I'll be very bad at finding you, but if you turn up here then I'll have no excuse." 

He swallowed, and nodded again. 

I put my hand on his shoulder until he looked up. "There's good news too. I'm not happy with Kyle, and I'm going to see what I can do to take him out, or buy out your contract. This should be over either way in a few weeks, so it isn't goodbye forever. Unless one of us gets unlucky." 

Luke left just before dawn, his car riding low with the weight of weapons, ammunition and artifacts it carried. I went to see a man about a vision. 

  
The old guy was sitting in his armchair by the fire, just as he always did. In front of him was a wooden chessboard, with some glass pieces on various squares. The board was odd - there weren't enough pieces, and they looked wrong. 

"Hello Old Man." I bowed and took a seat opposite the old man. "What stories have you got for me today?" 

The Oriental made a short bow, and smiled at me. He looked down at the board. 

"Two very powerful people. They've been fighting, keeping each other in check, for years. Both are honourable, in their way - one could even be called 'good'. A Third has entered their area. He is... not good, and slightly weaker than either of the Two." After looking at the board for a few moments, the old man sits back and laughs. "I am very excited about this! The Two have joined forces to defeat the Third. I don't think the area has seen an unstoppable power like theirs in many years! Together, their potential is... it's incredible!" 

He laughed, and his head bobbed up and down as he nodded furiously. "Yes! This is very good! You want to help a friend, and you have made an enemy, but he is also their enemy. He will be removed with no effort on your part. One of the Two is an _Ekimmu._" 

It's an Eskimo word, or Inuit, or something. Somewhere cold, anyway. He'd used it before, and I knew what it meant. It meant the Two were much, much more supernatural than me. 

"What action should I take?" 

"You need not worry, Richard. Your place is here this time, not out in the World. You must stay and work on re-building personal bonds, there is no need for your gun and knife in this case." 

"What do you mean, re-building? What is there for me to do?" 

I should have known better, especially after the number of years over which I'd seen the old guy operate. There was only one answer to that question, and it wasn't me saying it. 

"Hello Richard." Anna walked up behind the armchair. 

Which was nice. 

--------------- 

So that was that. Anna and I found that we were both pretty much alive, and quite wanted to be together if possible, and so we were. We had to check each other exhaustively for possible injury... but that's wasn't too much of a chore. 

I went to see Kyle the next day to report that Luke had been to my house. It turned out that Kyle had disappeared, and I acted as though that was suitably tragic and got the hell out of there. I hadn't expected it, but Luke's problems were solved with no intervention from me, and somewhere there had been a war involving armies, magic and hand-to-hand combat that I can only imagine and not adequately describe. Although if the second of the Two is who I think it is, some of the kung-fu would have been really, really cool to watch. But still... 

Anna and I are... well, we're definitely going to get out of the business. Definitely. Luke is off the hook and owes me a favour, and he thinks he can get me a legitimate job training people in... something. Maybe I'll take it. Right now I'm just amazed that I'm not messing things up with Anna, and wondering whether we actually _need_ a conservatory. And to be honest, I'm thinking "No" on that one. 


End file.
